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Disperser Limitation and Recruitment of an Endemic African Tree in a Fragmented Landscape

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dc.creator Cordeiro, Norbert J.
dc.creator Ndangalasi, Henry J.
dc.creator McEntee, Jay P.
dc.creator Howe, Henry
dc.date 2016-07-08T11:58:42Z
dc.date 2016-07-08T11:58:42Z
dc.date 2009-04
dc.date.accessioned 2018-03-27T08:55:36Z
dc.date.available 2018-03-27T08:55:36Z
dc.identifier Cordeiro, N.J., Ndangalasi, H.J., McEntee, J.P. and Howe, H.F., 2009. Disperser limitation and recruitment of an endemic African tree in a fragmented landscape. Ecology, 90(4), pp.1030-1041.
dc.identifier http://hdl.handle.net/20.500.11810/2869
dc.identifier 10.1890/07-1208.1 · Source: PubMed
dc.identifier.uri http://hdl.handle.net/20.500.11810/2869
dc.description Forest fragmentation may have positive or negative effects on tropical tree populations. Our earlier study of an endemic African tree, Leptonychia usambarensis (Sterculiaceae), in the East Usambara Mountains of Tanzania, found poorer recruitment of seedlings and juveniles in small fragments compared to continuous forest, and concomitant reduction of seed-dispersal agents and seed dispersal. However, the possibility that other biotic or abiotic consequences of the fragmentation process contribute to diminished recruitment in fragments was left open. Here we test whether excessive seed predation, diminished fecundity, low seed quality, or adverse abiotic effects acted independently or in concert with reduced seed dispersal to limit seedling and juvenile recruitment in fragments. Extended observations of disperser activity, a seed placement experiment, seed predator censuses, and reciprocal seedling transplants from forest and fragment sources failed to support the alternative hypotheses for poorer seedling and juvenile recruitment in fragments, leaving reduced seed dispersal as the most plausible mechanism. Poorer recruitment of this species in forest fragments, where high edge-to-area ratios admit more light than in continuous forest, is particularly striking because the tree is an early successional species that might be expected to thrive in disturbed microhabitats.
dc.language en
dc.publisher Wiley
dc.subject Africa
dc.subject Doves
dc.subject Eastern Arc Mountains
dc.subject Edge effects
dc.subject Frugivory
dc.subject Habitat fragmentation
dc.subject Inbreeding
dc.subject Mutualism
dc.subject Rodents
dc.subject Seed dispersal
dc.subject Seed predation
dc.subject Tropical fores
dc.title Disperser Limitation and Recruitment of an Endemic African Tree in a Fragmented Landscape
dc.type Journal Article, Peer Reviewed


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